No Lucky Leprechauns

Robby declared an "all hands on deck" family mode Sunday night. In a near panic, he had just remembered that St. Patrick's Day was the following day. In our house that means one thing: trying to catch the naughty little leprechaun who visits us yearly and wreaks havoc.

It was requested that I immediately start baking a batch of leprechaun cookies which are known to be

irresistible to the little mischief makers. Scott and Robby commandeered the bedroom where the pair crafted a foil-proof leprechaun trap. After years of cleaning up after the leprechaun's messes, Robby was determined to catch the little guy this year!

I must admit that I was impressed with the trap that Robby devised. Deceivingly simple, he obviously spent a lot of time planning his trap. After the cookies were cooled, the trap was baited. All we had to do was go to bed and wait to meet our little prisoner in the morning.  Robby made it clear that he had no intention of harming or keeping the leprechaun, he only planned to rob him of his gold and release him. 

At about midnight I woke up and unraveled two rolls of toilet paper through the house. I scattered pennies around the floor and overturned some kitchen chairs. I carefully tipped over the trap, creating a plausible alibi that the Charlie Cat knocked it over after we caught our little intruder. A larger stack of pennies and a few gold dollar coins were apparently dropped in the great leprechaun escape.  Satisfied with the chaos created, I went back to bed.

I woke up early, waiting for Robby to discover the leprechaun mess. I was expecting squeals of laughter as he followed the pennies through the house. Instead I heard tears of disappointment and perceived failure. 

Robby missed the toilet paper, coins and overturned chairs. Instead he only saw the knocked over trap. He was convinced that his design had failed, and he was devastated. I tried to remind him that leprechauns are tricky and extremely difficult to catch, but my words provided little consolation. After talking for 30 minutes I finally managed to shift the blame to the cat, who obviously intervened and set the foe loose. Robby didn't talk to Charlie Cat for the rest of the day. 

Our St. Paddy's Day started with tears, and unfortunately it didn't improve as the day wore on. Scott woke up with the stomach flu and spent the day in bed.  Along with caring for him, I had to contend with a little boy who was nursing a broken heart because of an escaped leprechaun. The fact that he was left a trail of pennies, coupled with the cancellation of school because a foot of snow had fallen seemed inconsequential. Apparently the Luck of the Irish passed over our house this year.